The mobillity patterns and infrasturcture in London
Covid-19 has affected the frequency and conveyance Londoners choose. If we take a look into the montly journeys, we can see how as the restrictions start, the number of journeys dramaticly decreases. This is also supported when taking a look into the visits to transit stations
However, not all boroughs count on the same transport infrastructure. Let’s analyze them one by one:
Cycle
London counts with The London Cycle Network Plus (LCN+) a network of cycle routes of about 900 kilometres. Below is the map of the cyclable paths:
Beside the private owned bikes, London counts with a public cycle scheme with more than 11,500 bikes and 750 docking stations. However the distribution of this docking station is quite uneven.
As seen above, the most centric boroughs have the majority of the docking stations.
If we take a look into the usage of this public bikes, overall there is an increase on the cycle hires on summer and spring, something to be expected if we keep in mind the weather. However, since covid started, the increase is way more noticeable specially whenever the mobility restrictions are lifted.
Public transport
If we dig into th epublic transport system, we can see how not all boroughs have the same number of bus stops.
Analogously for the rest of the TFL system, not all boroughs have the same number of Tube, DLR, Overground, Tramlink, Emirates Air Line and Crossrail stations.
Differences between restriction obidience during the first and the second lockdown
When people were initially forced to stay at home and reduce the amount of time they spend among other people, most took it very seriously and avoided going out of their homes at all costs. The public opinion about what is acceptable or safe to do, has been gradually getting broader during the pandemic, whether this change comes from better understanding of COVID-19, or the fact that the population is losing it’s patience with the lockdowns, we’ll leave this up for the reader.
We have picked the start date of the first lockdown, to be 24/03/2020, when the majority of the restrictions were put into place, similarly, we have decided on 05/11/2020 as the start of the second lockdown. We have taken the mobility data available for the week after the introduction of a restrictions and averaged them. With this we are able to visualize the change in people’s tendency, to follow restrictions related to movement.
Areas of negative change
As we have foreshadowed above, people seem to care less about the restrictions as we move forward in time, changes in Grocery and Pharmacy, Retail and Recreation, Transit Stations, and Workplaces, show a significant drop, from the baseline, both in the first and second lockdown.
Mobility trends for places like grocery markets, food warehouses, farmers markets, specialty food shops, drug stores, and pharmacies.
Mobility trends for places like restaurants, cafes, shopping centers, theme parks, museums, libraries, and movie theaters.
Mobility trends for places like public transport hubs such as subway, bus, and train stations.
Mobility trends for places of work.
Areas of psoitive change
Unsurprisingly Residential movement has increased during both lockdowns, since if people want to meet up, their only option is someone’s home or some public area.
Mobility trends for places of residence.
Speaking of, Parks have seen a mild increase during the first lockdown, but has skyrocketed during the second lockdown. The reason? People initially didn’t know how contagious COVID-19 was in an outdoors setting, but the public opinion has shifted in this regard. What is also interesting to note is the change that we can see during the 2nd lockdown, occured in the month of November, either it was a very sunny November, or people took every opportunity to get out of their homes for some environment change.
Mobility trends for places like local parks, national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas, and public gardens.
